contamination

[kuhn-tam-uh-ney-shuhn]

noun

1. the act of contaminating, or of making something impure or unsuitable by contact with something unclean, bad, etc.

2. the act of contaminating, or of rendering something harmful or unusable by the addition of radioactive material.

   the contamination of food following a nuclear attack.

3. the state of being contaminated.

   The manufacturer recalled the product because of possible salmonella contamination.

4. Rare.,  something that contaminates a place or substance, as by making it impure, unsuitable, harmful, or unusable; a contaminant.

5. Linguistics.

   1. an alternation in a linguistic form due to the influence of a related form, as the replacement in English of earlier femelle with female through the influence of male.

   2. the process of forming blends.

contamination

/ kənˌtæmɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of contaminating or the state of being contaminated

2. something that contaminates

3. linguistics the process by which one word or phrase is altered because of mistaken associations with another word or phrase; for example, the substitution of irregardless for regardless by association with such words as irrespective

Other Word Forms

• noncontamination noun
• recontamination noun
• self-contamination noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of contamination¹

1375–1425; late Middle English contaminacioun < Late Latin contāminātiōn- (stem of contāminātiō ), equivalent to contāmināt ( us ) ( contaminate ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Feltner said he and his wife planted fruit trees in their own yard, but wonder if it’ll be safe to eat the fruit when they go back home, given widespread contamination and haphazard testing.

From Los Angeles Times

Food and Drug Administration is recalling frozen shrimp products for possible contamination by Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.

From Los Angeles Times

The US embassy issued a health alert in August, raising concerns of "widespread contamination of water and soil" in the area.

From BBC

It helps avoid the potential problem of cross contamination and germs from double-dippers and just in general everyone taking from the same plates.

From Salon

People who get their water from small water systems often face more contamination problems.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• contagion 
• corruption 
• disease 
• epidemic 
• infection 
• poisoning 
• pollution